10th/12th/31st Coastal Battery

The 10th/12th/31st Coastal Battery, RBCA is a unit of the BC Army, and is one of the dedicated coast defence missile batteries of the Royal Regiment of British Columbia Artillery. Although formally the single-battery unit is designated an active force formation, only A Troop is actually active force; B Troop is manned by members of the Militia.

Some ranks in Royal BC Artillery units are different from those in other Army units. Specifically, in in all units of the Royal Regiment of British Columbia Artillery a Private is called a Gunner (Gnr), a Lance Corporal is called a Lance Bombardier (L Bdr) and a Corporal is called a Bombardier (Bdr).

History
The 10th Coastal Battery was formed in 1914 in Vancouver, with two four-inch naval guns on temporary emplacements at Siwash Rock in Stanley Park; with the end of the Great War, the battery was disbanded in 1919.

In 1938, the 10th Coastal Battery was reformed, again in Stanley Park in Vancouver, but this time at Ferguson Point, with two Mk. 7 6-inch guns on Mk. 2 mounts, along with a searchlight at the earlier position at Siwash Rock. In 1942, the guns were moved to Yorke Island, being replaced by two 4.7-inch naval guns.

In 1939, the 12th Coastal Battery was formed on the West Vancouver side of the First Narrows. Initially two QF 12-pounder guns were positioned at the Capilano River spit; these were later moved to a three-storey concrete gantry under the piers of the Lions Gate Bridge, along with three searchlights. Further, a single Bofors QF 40 mm anti-aircraft gun was emplaced nearby at Ambleside, West Vancouver.

In December 1941, after Japan's entry into the Second World War, the 31st Coastal Battery was formed at Point Atkinson, West Vancouver with a single Mk. I 18-pounder gun in a field emplacement, along with two searchlights and a Bofors AA gun.

In early 1945, when the threat of Japanese attack had decreased to virtually nil, the 12th and 31st batteries in West Vancouver were merged. The resulting 12th/31st Coastal Battery was trimmed down, with the Point Atkinson site retaining only the AA gun whilst the one at Ambleside was removed. In 1946, the 12th/31st absorbed the 10th battery, and the new unit was renamed 10th Coastal Battery, and in 1948 the unit was relegated to Militia status and the gantry under the bridge was demolished, thus only the two guns at Ferguson Point were retained. Interestingly, although the unit's weapons and duty stations were in Stanley Park, the regimental offices were in West Vancouver.

In 1974, the unit was renamed 10th/12th/31st Coastal Battery and the guns were removed, leaving it only nominally a coastal artillery battery. Over the next five years the members of the unit drilled at Bessborough Armoury in Vancouver with the 1st Field Artillery Regiment, until finally in 1979 a new armoury was built at Point Atkinson, along with the installation at that location of Gabriel III surface-to-surface missile launchers in fixed emplacements.

In 2006, the battery received the Hsiung Feng II SSM on towed launchers, and the fixed Gabriel emplacements were removed in 2007.

Regimental Alliances

 * Australia Royal Regiment of Australian Artillery
 * Canada Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery
 * India Regiment of Artillery
 * New Zealand Royal Regiment of New Zealand Artillery
 * Rhodesia Royal Regiment of Rhodesian Artillery
 * South Africa South African Artillery Corps
 * United Kingdom Royal Regiment of Artillery